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Author Topic: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.  (Read 3059 times)

LiferGamer

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Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« on: November 16, 2020, 11:40:58 AM »
I'm going to post here for feedback/comments - rather than a review it'll be a lot of back and forth.

Big thanks for Tenbones for getting me interested, now finish the breakdown thread!  =)

We're going to whip up a couple PCs, I'm converting a 1e adventure to see how clunky that is, and play it in slow motion if need be.
Your Forgotten Realms was my first The Last Jedi.

If the party is gonna die, they want to be riding and blasting/hacking away at a separate one of Tiamat's heads as she plummets towards earth with broken wings while Solars and Planars sing.

LiferGamer

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #1 on: November 16, 2020, 10:38:28 PM »
I like it but I can't say for sure whether I get it. Scheduling didn't work out the way I wanted to so we ended up doing a lot of reading and Theory crafting no real play.

.I dug into some old Forum posts on the crafty games forum as well as a couple of cool blogs.  On the one hand while it doesn't seem like there's much coming out terrible quick, it's pretty goddamn complete as is and doesn't really feel like it's missing much.

Your Forgotten Realms was my first The Last Jedi.

If the party is gonna die, they want to be riding and blasting/hacking away at a separate one of Tiamat's heads as she plummets towards earth with broken wings while Solars and Planars sing.

consolcwby

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2020, 10:13:28 PM »
Hm... I've heard about this, but I know nothing about it. It's been off my radar as of late, however.
I like it but I can't say for sure whether I get it. Scheduling didn't work out the way I wanted to so we ended up doing a lot of reading and Theory crafting no real play.
You should do a capsule review in this thread, like just 3 pros and 3 cons. Especially if you don't 'get it'. And if you eventually 'get it', you can post your new opinions. I'd like to understand what exactly this is. (A new lite/narrative system?)
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tenbones

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2020, 10:54:22 PM »
Godspeed to you sir!

tenbones

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2020, 10:56:19 PM »
Hm... I've heard about this, but I know nothing about it. It's been off my radar as of late, however.
I like it but I can't say for sure whether I get it. Scheduling didn't work out the way I wanted to so we ended up doing a lot of reading and Theory crafting no real play.
You should do a capsule review in this thread, like just 3 pros and 3 cons. Especially if you don't 'get it'. And if you eventually 'get it', you can post your new opinions. I'd like to understand what exactly this is. (A new lite/narrative system?)

BWAHAHAH! Capsule review? Rules Lite? Narrative? Oh lord... 

Here's the capsule review: Fantasycraft - what 3e aspired to be and should have been.


consolcwby

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #5 on: November 17, 2020, 11:41:37 PM »
Hm... I've heard about this, but I know nothing about it. It's been off my radar as of late, however.
I like it but I can't say for sure whether I get it. Scheduling didn't work out the way I wanted to so we ended up doing a lot of reading and Theory crafting no real play.
You should do a capsule review in this thread, like just 3 pros and 3 cons. Especially if you don't 'get it'. And if you eventually 'get it', you can post your new opinions. I'd like to understand what exactly this is. (A new lite/narrative system?)

BWAHAHAH! Capsule review? Rules Lite? Narrative? Oh lord... 

Here's the capsule review: Fantasycraft - what 3e aspired to be and should have been.
Which one 3.0 3.5, 3.71269 FUD Edition?... Or are you just saying it's like Pathfinder but it's not.
*In my Joe Biden voice*: Come on, man. Tell me how you REALLY feel! I got some people to sniff. ;D
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Spike

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #6 on: November 18, 2020, 12:07:22 AM »
See... now I'm curious. I've had the FantasyCraft book for ages, and I recall liking it, but it never really felt... Complete.

Are there multiple books that I just never heard about?
For you the day you found a minor error in a Post by Spike and forced him to admit it, it was the greatest day of your internet life.  For me it was... Tuesday.

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tenbones

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #7 on: November 19, 2020, 11:16:51 AM »
Well there is this little thread I started not too long ago...

https://www.therpgsite.com/pen-paper-roleplaying-games-rpgs-discussion/3e-side-by-side-battle-pathfinder-dd-3-5-fantasy-craft-walk-into-the-thunderdome/

And I've been talking about Fantasycraft for years. It's the best iteration of 3e ever.

I need to get back to that thread... but day job and my secret project has been devouring my life.

LiferGamer

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2020, 11:53:40 AM »
I've tried shaming Tenbones multiple times into continuing =D.

SHORT SHORT NON-REVIEW

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE PROS:
Gives me a toolbox to both create the world as I want it as a GM with rules clearly laid out on the front end, and gives the players 'currency' to tweak bad luck nudge results sort of like Savage Worlds Bennies:
  • can handle stone-age to steampunk
  • Alignments that mechanically do something and can be tweaked campaign by campaign (e.g. Lawful, Neutral, Chaotic OR Air, Fire, Water OR Honor, Vengence, Freedom)
  • Characters feel like they can do stuff even at low levels
  • Alignments that mechanically do something and can be tweaked campaign by campaign
  • Panache and Prudence are stats - your character can be a frugal miser or a spendthrift with pimped out clothes
  • Likewise status is mappable and measurable

CONS are all related to complexity (I skipped 3rd and 4th edition, as I was into GURPS) and the amount of work that needs to happen on the front end.

In short: I can already recommend it if you are a prep-heavy GM, building a new campaign especially.
Your Forgotten Realms was my first The Last Jedi.

If the party is gonna die, they want to be riding and blasting/hacking away at a separate one of Tiamat's heads as she plummets towards earth with broken wings while Solars and Planars sing.

tenbones

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #9 on: November 19, 2020, 01:07:48 PM »
I *will* get back to it. I want to have that thread exactly for moments like this as a reference.

Fantasycraft requires a little extra "system-mastery" from the GM. It's a toolkit, not a setting. But once you get proficient at using it comfortably it's pretty amazing.

LiferGamer

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #10 on: November 19, 2020, 03:38:14 PM »
Another Pro that I haven't tested but sounds awesome is that I can stat a critter once, and easily adjusted upwards or downwards in terms of Threat Level to match the characters.

5th edition challenge ratings are a pain in the ass for me.
Your Forgotten Realms was my first The Last Jedi.

If the party is gonna die, they want to be riding and blasting/hacking away at a separate one of Tiamat's heads as she plummets towards earth with broken wings while Solars and Planars sing.

LiferGamer

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #11 on: November 19, 2020, 03:41:50 PM »
I found an older blog I've been pouring over that's got some cool examples - here's one of the more interesting ones:
https://philgamer.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/fantasy-craft-sample-combat-zhao-meng-vs-hsi-rong-in-a-restaurant-rumble/
Neat blog with some other good FC stuff.
Your Forgotten Realms was my first The Last Jedi.

If the party is gonna die, they want to be riding and blasting/hacking away at a separate one of Tiamat's heads as she plummets towards earth with broken wings while Solars and Planars sing.

tenbones

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #12 on: November 19, 2020, 10:40:35 PM »
Another Pro that I haven't tested but sounds awesome is that I can stat a critter once, and easily adjusted upwards or downwards in terms of Threat Level to match the characters.

5th edition challenge ratings are a pain in the ass for me.

Yes! It's one of the best things in the system. You can customize a monster in a snap and scale it up/down as you see fit.

Lurkndog

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #13 on: November 20, 2020, 10:30:55 AM »
I was playing in a long-running FantasyCraft tabletop campaign before lockdown put it on hiatus.

Overall, I have a positive impression of the system. I'm not a huge fan of D20 but the Crafty systems generally let me get what I want done as a player.

My character is a kung-fu doctor, patterned after Peter Davison Doctor Who, built as Explorer class with the Cleric specialty and a combination of martial arts, chance and alchemy feats. It all works pretty well. My only real issue is that combat and damage are a bit too random. My character has both one-shotted a Big Bad when my damage rolls exploded, and gotten his ass kicked and his lunch money stolen by a nameless villager. But that's D20 for you.

We were using FantasyCraft with a Pathfinder campaign, and it worked pretty well.

Aglondir

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Re: Going to put FantasyCraft through its paces today - will report.
« Reply #14 on: November 24, 2020, 01:35:30 AM »
On sale now!

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